Healthy Soils Program (HSP)

The Healthy Soils Program encourages farmers to incorporate conservation agriculture techniques that improve their soil health and sequester carbon. 

Awards grant funds up to $75,000.

Program timeline: next round TBD in February 2020, each project has 3-year duration

Types of projects: Your application can include a combination of up to 30 different eligible soil health practices.

• Cropland practices:
  

  Photo by Kees Streefkerk
  • These practices improve the soil’s water-holding capacity, stability, and organic matter content. 
• Compost application practices:
  • Compost may be applied to annual crops, perennial crops, orchards, and rangelands.
  • Compost can be purchased from a certified facility or produced on-farm.

• Herbaceous cover establishment:
  • These are practices that use grass to decrease wind and water erosion and keep nutrients in the soil. 

• Woody cover establishment
  • These are practices that use trees or shrubs, not grasses, to decrease wind and water erosion. 
• Grazing land practices
  • These practices aim to improve the productivity and sustainability of pastures and rangelands. 

How to apply:

The grant process includes a web-based application consisting of a series of questions that can be saved and returned to before submitting.

It is helpful to plan your project and obtain quotes before beginning the application. Free, local technical assistance is available across the state. Contact your local Community Education Specialist for more information.

Projects located in "Severely Disadvantaged Communities" or SDACs will receive priority funding. To determine if you are in one of these areas, click here.

Click here to see the 2018 HSP Incentives Awardees.

Healthy Soils Demonstration Projects

The HSP Demonstration Projects aim to improve soil health, sequester carbon and reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) funding on-farm demonstration projects that collect data and/or showcase conservation management practices that mitigate GHG emissions and increase soil health, and creating a platform promoting widespread adoption of conservation management practices throughout the state. 

Type A projects will demonstrate implementation of conservation management practices, measure field GHGs emissions, and conduct analysis on cost/benefits for adoption of the proposed practice(s) and anticipated barriers;
Type B projects will demonstrate implementation of HSP conservation management practices and/or conduct analysis on cost/benefits for adoption of the proposed practice(s) and anticipated barriers.

See the 2018 to HSP Demo Awardees